At their Seoul, South Korea Summit in November 2010, the G20 adopted a Multi-Year Action Plan on Development which aims to promote economic growth, particularly in about 80 low-income countries. Infrastructure development is at the top of the nine-point agenda. In order to close Africa’s energy infrastructure gap, the group emphasises large-scale public-private partnership projects in order to promote economic growth and regional integration.

The G20 asserts that new investments into the continent’s energy sector are long overdue. This is true. However, Saliem Fakir (WWF SA) takes issue with the group's call for delivering solutions with an entire focus on large-scale, centralised energy infrastructure projects. He argues that more attention should be given to modular and more flexibly deployable renewable energy technologies that can reduce poverty and minimise financial risk while maintaining a small carbon footprint.

Written by Saliem Fakir, Head of Living Planet, WWF South Africa

Published by HBS Southern Africa